out of what I own...Does harry potter count as castle? if so the owlry set. if not then the kk2 citidel of orlan. the only good things were axes, swords, shadow knight, gaurdian dude, and boulders which at the time were new and rare.of what I don't own...any willa set, any kk2 set without a good vledek, king, shadow knight to other fig ratio, and any dm set without majesto. the windship is horrible I agree but the helicopter esque batlord flying machine may have been worse.

He who thinks you should look at the box that says "Quaraga" if you want to find out his username (about as useful to you as his real name). he only wants you to look so he can laugh about you looking there because he's a total smart...

I'm gonna have to side with a lot of people and say nothing I bought disappointed me more then 6043 The Dragon Defender. I remember building it as quickly as possible. Then loading the rocks in the buckets with a big grin on my face. Only to be hit with disappointment when releasing the mechanism to see the rocks receive just enough force to roll out of the buckets and hit the crew below. Probably the most ornate catapult ever made but defiantly the most useless.

He who thinks you should look at the box that says "Quaraga" if you want to find out his username (about as useful to you as his real name). he only wants you to look so he can laugh about you looking there because he's a total smart...

Elbadar wrote:The title says it all (nearly) . The only rule is that you must own the set you pass your wicked judgement on. My least favorite had to be the first KK2 castle I dont even remember what posessed me to hope it would be any good !!! I suppose i had delluded myself enough to think that if Lego made it it must be good. In any case I was gravely mistaken, hence the mad emoticons . Tha parts were poor, the figs wer crap, and the flags were double-sided. It was scraped within a month and the only things I have of it that I liked were the eccesive gray slopes and the lone shadowknight. How about you? Did anyone else ever buy a set that made them do this--> Post that mistake here!

Elbadar wrote:The title says it all (nearly) . The only rule is that you must own the set you pass your wicked judgement on. My least favorite had to be the first KK2 castle I dont even remember what posessed me to hope it would be any good !!! I suppose i had delluded myself enough to think that if Lego made it it must be good. In any case I was gravely mistaken, hence the mad emoticons . Tha parts were poor, the figs wer crap, and the flags were double-sided. It was scraped within a month and the only things I have of it that I liked were the eccesive gray slopes and the lone shadowknight. How about you? Did anyone else ever buy a set that made them do this--> Post that mistake here!

Now, see here, I know everyone's entitled to an opinion, but come on!The fantasy line contains tons of minifigs previously unseen in any line, some nice new bricks and fantastic sets, and I really don't see what you could have against it, especially as it is the first castle line since kk2, which had next to no good sets, so it is a huge jump back into shape from LEGO!

I have to agree with Funnyham here-- if you don't think that the Medieval Market Village is a good castle themed set, then I would have to suppose that you are of the mind that there has NEVER BEEN a good castle set.

I DO agree that LEGO castles per se have been slipping in terms of structural realism since the early 1990's. Increasingly, we've seen things like open-backed castles and structures that are mostly support beams and floors, with few or no walls. Similarly, the degree of fantasy wackiness has been pretty high (like the skull castle for the Skeletons, or the odd "floating tower" for the Crown Knights, or the way-too-tall witch's hat tower in Fright Knights). So, there's a point to be made if you're talking about castles specifically. 7094 is the best large-scale castle since maybe 1995 (it's about on par with King Leo's castle, I'd say), although I agree that the major castles from the 80's through maybe 1992 are all universally better (except 6081).

But if we're talking about castle-themed sets, the Medieval Market Village smacks all those factors nearly dead-center. It's very realistic and very well constructed. In fact, there are very few critiques I can even imagine for the MMV that wouldn't be applicable to just about any other LEGO set out there, with the exception perhaps of price. Number of figs? Got it. Abundance of generic figures? Bam. Part selection? Playability? Originality (compared to other sets)? Yes, yes, and yes.

You could complain that you don't care for an army of peasants (although the vast majority of castle fans have been screaming for this for years), or that there aren't enough "shooting things" or "bad guys" to have a valid battle (which is a valid point if you're buying for a child, I suppose). But any other critique I can come up with would probably be applicable to virtually every other castle LEGO set out there-- like the lack of realism in terms of scale, or the missing stairs in the one house, or the inappropriate roofing.

Anyway, if you're going to claim that there haven't been ANY "good sets" recently, I think it's fair to ask what your definition of a "good set" is. And more appropriately, since that's not really the topic at hand, which one of the NON-"good set"s is your personal least favorite and why?

In terms of the over-all quality of themes and sets, I think it's pretty much incontestable that Lego has done well of late--but I also think it's a fair criticism to say that the castles themselves are a bit weaker: lots of big pieces, open wall-space, and (in my opinion) less structural/aesthetic integrity or appeal.

I'm particularly thinking of King's Castle Seige, though this applies to both the KK1 Castles (2000 and 2006 releases) and the Castle of Morcia, and I think davee123 is right that this has been a general decline since the mid-1990s or earlier.

Ironically, however, I think there *is* one exception--from the dark years of KK2. Whatever you say about the figs or the set-design of most of the line, Vladek's Fortress is I think close to uncontestably the best-designed castle-as-a-set that Lego has done. Possibly ever, but certainly since 1992. Admittedly, the buzz-saw catapults are a bit weird, but that's not really an integral part of the castle, per se, and easily removable.

Formendacil wrote:Vladek's Fortress is I think close to uncontestably the best-designed castle-as-a-set that Lego has done. Possibly ever, but certainly since 1992.

I beg to differ. Vladek’s Fortress certainly is a very good set and the silly catapultlets are not the point. However, it is only half a castle. You need two copies to make it a whole castle. Also there are sections in the structure that appear to be well designed from outside, while inside a minifig can’t possibly stand upright. Those are criteria that would hinder me from calling this set the best designed one ever.

ByeJojo

This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.Winston Churchill

Lego really should stop calling their "half" castles (like vladeks fortress) castles, because really, as JoJo says, their just a very big wall unless you buy two. So, although the goodness of sets like Kings castle siege and trolls mountain fortress is debatable, at least they are full castles.

I actually think that one of the top 5 (if not 3) best castles of all time was released within the last three years. The set in question is the dwarf mine. It has an abundance of weapons and shields, great playability, only $50, new (at the time) figs and elements, modularity, parts selection, and it's three dimentional. Best castle in the last fifteen years IMO and it was released in late 2007. So yeah, score two for Fantasy Castle